


What Once Happened

by orphan_account



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bad Ending, Child Death, For the Adult Turtles, Future Fic, SAINW references, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23431042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After something weird happens to his Ōdachi, Leo accidently sends his brothers and Draxum- along with himself -into a universe with a future that turns out to be more terrifying than expected.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	What Once Happened

**Author's Note:**

> Heads Up: I used my OC Colton as Adult Mikey's husband. I also used two little fan-characters named Theta and Zeta as Adult Leo's hatchlings.
> 
> *Also, I'll be referring to the adult turts by their full names to avoid confusion.

"Come on... come on! Make a portal... make a portal... ugh! Make! A! Portal!"

"This is so pathetic."

"Hey! I'd like to see _you_ try and make a portal with this stupid sword!"

Baron Draxum scoffed, rolling his eyes as he watched Leo scowl and continue his attempt to successfully use his mystic weapon. For whatever reason, Leo had been trying for _hours,_ and he had yet to get anywhere _near_ his goal. Frustrated whines and complaints accompanied Leo's failures, only further serving to increase Draxum's annoyance. After five more minutes of the sad display, Draxum sneered, raising a hand into the air and throwing a small spore onto Leo's Ōdachi. Before Leo could ask what the action was for, his Ōdachi moved around rapidly, spinning in circles before creating a large, pink portal. Both Draxum and Leo fell through immediately, and Leo screamed in terror. Draxum, on the other hand, moved into a sitting position, riding out the trip until they neared the other side of the portal. In one swift movement, Draxum pulled Leo close, just barely managing to stand straight and land on the roof directly under them.

"What... was... _that?"_ Leo asked, panting quickly. Draxum simply chuckled, humming in surprise as his remaining sons fell through the portal as well.

"LEO! WHAT THE _HELL?!"_ Raph screamed, standing up and storming up to the accused.

"This wasn't my fault! _Papa_ was the one who did this!" Leo huffed, looking up at Draxum. "Tell them!"

"Yes, Snapper. It was my fault." Draxum admitted calmly, dropping Leo onto the roof gracelessly. "But I did this for good reason."

"Uh, that reason being?" Mikey asked, crossing his arms.

"I am very glad you asked!" Draxum responded. A few quick steps were made as Draxum looked over the area that was New York. A wry smile was on his face, and he sighed before turning to his sons. "You see, your blue-clad brother was having trouble with his weapon, and I was getting tired of watching the pathetic display."

"We know how you feel." Donnie muttered, grunting as he was aggressively punched on the arm.

"Right... _anyways_ , I didn't feel like taking the time to teach him myself, so I decided to do the next best thing." Draxum explained, gesturing to the area around the quintet. "The only one who would be ready and willing to teach Leonardo about his weapon is himself, correct?"

The boys nodded in unison.

"So, instead of creating a better clone of himself, I concluded that the next best thing to do was introduce him to his future self!" Draxum announced. "Now, since you have that in mind, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!"

"Wait! If this is for Leo, why are _we_ here?!" Raph asked, ignoring Leo's offended scoff. "The three of us know how to use our weapons perfectly!"

"Precisely why I brought you. You may think that you know everything, but you do not. So, while Leonardo is learning how to be useful, you three can learn about how to improve beyond the potential you already have."

"Have I ever told you I hate you?" Leo asked, sending Draxum a dirty glare. Draxum smirked, nodding before creating a portal of his own and disappearing. "Well, this is just _perfect!_ All I wanted to do was get better _on my own!_ And now, just because our second father is a warring warrior scientist, I've gotten us dragged into a mess that'll probably get us killed!"

"Yeah, you _have_." Raph sighed, pinching the bridge of his snout before taking a deep breath. "Actually, forget that. I'm just a bit frustrated."

"I assumed that was the case." Leo replied, sitting down on the edge of the roof. "But, on the topic of our surroundings, it kinda looks like we just portaled outside."

"While that may be true, the chances of that being true are very slim." Donnie chimed, crouching down next to his twin. "The best thing we can do is try to find someone who can explain how this universe is different."

"Universe?" Raph asked, looking down at his brothers in confusion.

"Yep." Donnie hummed, sitting down completely. "Remember how I told you guys about the Multiverse Theory?"

"Mhm."

"Yeah-huh."

"Yes."

"Well, Draxum said that the only one who could help Leo is himself, so the only logical thing to assume is that we're in an alternate universe. One that harbors a version of our brother that's actually... well... _good at what he does_." Donnie explained, placing a hand on Leo's head. "No offense, little twin."

"Some taken." Leo muttered, looking around the area and thinking. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Leo to come up with a solution, and he stood up suddenly with a loud gasp. "April! We should go see if April still lives in the same apartment!"

"Yes! Good idea, Leo!" Raph agreed. "Come on! Let's go find our friend!"

The boys cheered and yelled as they made their way to April's apartment building, making it there in no time at all, an amazing feat, considering how they didn't even look for landmarks before shooting towards a random direction. With hushed voices, the boys practiced their hellos, silencing before Raph knocked on April's window.

"What the? Boys, since _when_ do you start knocking... on... my..." A look of shock came from the young woman behind the window, and it was reciprocated by the brothers. The group sat in shocked silence for quite a while, none of them knowing what to say. That is, until woman spoke up. "Donnie...? How did you manage to reverse your ages...?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hol' up, Skip. So, you're telling me that you aren't actually my friends?"

"Precisely; and, if I'm putting the pieces together correctly, Draxum didn't send us to an alternate universe, he sent us to the future."

A loud sigh of surprise came from the young woman, who had turned out to be a grown up version of April. After some examination, Donnie had concluded that the boys had traveled seven years into the future. Upon hearing this news, Mikey had started asking April about how much had changed.

"You have no idea how great it is to see you so happy again." April sadly hummed, placing a hand on Mikey's cheek. "So much has changed in these last seven years."

"Changed? In what way?" Donnie asked, eager to hear about how his life turned out.

"Well, it's honestly hard to explain." April admitted, her eyes traveling to the floor. "It might be better if I just showed you..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Glad to see that we still live in the sewers. The nice, dirty, disease ridden sewers."

April chuckled at Leo's sarcastic comment, saying nothing as she led the boys to... wherever it was she was taking them. A tense air followed the group the entire way, and they all swore that they could hear their heartbeats syncing in sound and intensity. A few more feet led the boys to a familiar sewer drain, and they all gasped happily. April, on the other hand, frowned. Taking notice of this, Mikey picked up his pace, walking next to April with a smile.

"I bet our future versions are gonna be fun to meet!" Mikey chirped, a kick in his step. "Maybe they'll all have cool tattoos or something!"

"Hmm, hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but things didn't really turn out the way we all expected." April replied. "Let's just say that you four learned about what it means to be adults a long time ago."

Before any of the brothers could ask what April meant, happy squeaking and trilling caught their attention.

"Zeta! Naze kare wa son'nani haipāna nodesu ka?! " That voice was familiar, nostalgic, even. "Your Chichioya is going to _kill me!"_

"Daddy is here?!" A high pitched voice gasped, followed by the rapid pitter-patter of tiny feet. "¿Donde esta papa?"

"¡Él no está aquí ahora!" The voice now sounded exasperated, and a loud grunt was sounded seconds after. "Theta, get _down!"_

It took no time at all for the brothers to look at April, clearly wanting an explanation.

"Alright, look; two years after Draxum became part of the family, Splinter got incredibly sick. None of us knew what caused it, but we all did the best we could to help make Splinter better. At one point, Donnie managed to create a pill that kept Splinter's illness from getting worse, and it worked for nearly a year." April paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "One day, Splinter and Draxum got into a huge argument, and Draxum left. We never saw him after that, but soon found out that he'd done something terrible as an attempt of revenge."

"Did he... did he take the pills?" Mikey asked feebly, whimpering as April nodded.

"Donnie did all he could to recreate the pill, but by the time he managed to create enough..." April stopped, letting a few tears fall.

"After Splinter's death, you boys changed, and not in the good way. Leo would always leave for extended amounts of time, and when he returned, he acted like nothing could ever faze him. It didn't take us long to figure out why, mainly because he had no choice but to admit why. The poor bastard had ended up getting another Yokai pregnant, and she forced him to take eggs a few hours after they were laid. It was then that you guys decided to pitch in and help Leo be a good father.

"Unfortunately, the eggs only seemed to cause more tension in the family. Leo never allowed you near them, and it eventually led Raph to go outside on his own one day. When he came back, he was blind in one eye, and had cuts all over his body. In an attempt to avenge Raph, Leo went out to find the culprit, and when _he_ came back... he was completely blind. Donnie and Mikey were smart enough to refuse to let their anger overtake them, and did all they could to help Raph and Leo adapt to their impairments." April took a moment to smile, thinking over the next events and subconsciously counting them as blessings. "It didn't take long for Raph and Leo to come up with techniques to help themselves work around their injuries, and are always refusing to let themselves be defined by physical defects.

"When Leo's babies hatched, he named them based upon their touch; Zeta and Theta. They're beautiful, troublemaking twins, and act similarly in certain situations; so to keep track of them, Leo taught Zeta to be fluent in Japanese, and taught Theta to be fluent in Spanish. They're both able to speak each other's language, and English is their secondary language, but they still speak it as if it was their primary language. They're smart little tricksters, but Leo's, somehow, able to take care of them nonetheless. Of course, he does need a break every now and then, and he's recently been feeling guilty for leaving his brothers stuck with the twins. So, he's been going on "Blind Dates" to try and look for a mate."

"Aww!" Mikey cooed, smiling despite the tears of sadness flowing down his cheeks.

"If you think _that's_ cute, wait until you meet _your_ _husband_ , Mikester." April whispered.

"Wait, my brothers let me get _married?"_ Mikey asked incredulously. April nodded, unable to hold back the ecstatic grin on her face as Mikey hopped up and down with joy.

"¡Tío, hay personas extrañas en las alcantarillas!" Theta's excited voice carried through the drain, and April gasped. Theta copied the action, putting his hands up and rushing towards April. "Tia April! ¿Quiénes son estas personas contigo?"

"Son tu padre y tus tíos, pero más jóvenes." April replied quietly. Theta tilted his head, looking at the brothers skeptically.

"¿Papi solía ser joven?" Theta asked.

"Oh, har-har. _That_ I understood." Leo groaned, frowning as Donnie snickered. "Oh hush, I know you did, too."

"Theta! Come back here! You _know_ how upset your father will be if he... finds out... about..." All movement stopped as Raph's adult version paused to look at his past self. "I don't believe this..."

Leo smiled awkwardly, taking a deep breath in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Yeah? Well you'd better believe it! We traveled through time!"

"Leo!" Raph, Donnie, and Mikey shouted.

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood!" Leo whined, shrinking under his family's furious gaze. "What else am I supposed to do?!"

Before anyone could reply, Leo was wrapped in a tight, nearly bone-crushing hug, whimpering and yelping in fear as the adult version of his eldest brother held onto the Slider as if fearing he would disappear. No one said or did anything until Leo was let go, unsure of how to react.

"I'm sorry. I just... got a bit emotional there." Raphael chuckled, wiping a tear from his working eye. "Hey, why don't you come in? You're probably tired and confused."

"You have _no idea_." Leo muttered, getting no negative response. The group walked into the lair, sitting down in the living room and groaning in relief. "Finally! Somewhere to rest my booty!"

Theta giggled, climbing out of April's arms, and hopping onto Leo's lap. Curious sniffing caused Leo to snicker, watching as Theta squeaked, trilled, and chirped throughout the process. "You smell like papi. But you don't look it."

"Look _like him_ , Theta." April corrected. Theta ignored the correction, placing his hands over Leo's eyes.

"Now Papi!" Theta happily cheered. "Now papi! Now papi!"

"Why is my baby saying that?" Everyone turned in a flash to watch Leo's adult version sniff his way around, growling and hissing as he got closer to his child. Mainly because of the strangely familiar scent that came along with the baby. "Theta, ven a mi."

Theta obeyed, purring loudly as he nuzzled against his father's legs.

"Papi! You was young? Used to be baby?" Theta asked, gaining his father's attention.

"Yo solía ser." Leonardo crouched down, pressing his snout against Theta's belly. "No hueles muy diferente."

"Because that papi is _you_ , papi!" Theta shouted, his tone conveying his annoyance; as if he expected the answer to be common knowledge.

"Hmm... go play with Zeta." Leonardo instructed. Once Theta was gone, the grown Slider stood, showing off how much taller and mature he was compared to the younger turtles. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

"That's... kind of a long-"

"Draxum sent them here." April bluntly stated. "They're you and your brothers from seven years ago."

"Well, my condolences." Leonardo scoffed emotionlessly. "Why did he send you?"

"To put a long story short," Leo hummed, "Draxum sent us here so that _you_ could teach _us_ how to better use our weapons."

It was then when Leonardo stiffened, curling his beak into a snarl before talking. "While I hate to destroy the hopes of someone so young, I must inform you that we no longer use our weapons in such a way. Our villains were defeated long ago, and we destroyed our weapons because of what they caused us to become."

"Why am I not surprised?" Donnie asked, crossing his arms. "First we get sent into the future, then we learn that our lives will turn out shitty, and now we can't even learn what we were sent here for!"

"You say that as if you expected Draxum to do something worthwhile." Leonardo muttered. "Look, our Donnie, Mikey, and Colton will be back soon. Maybe they can help send you back."

"Uh, don't you mean _Donnie_ can help send us back?" Raph asked.

"No. I mean _they_ can send you back." Leonardo's voice was strict, and his posture was getting more and more defensive as he spoke. "After our father died, Donnie started teaching Mikey about medicine and science. It was the only way Donnie could keep his sanity, so we allowed it to continue. Years later, Mikey met Colton, they dated for another year before getting married. Much to Donnie's joy, Colton had graduated from a reputable college in the Hidden City. So, because of their hard work ethic and reason to focus, we now have three scientists in the family."

"Whoa..." Donnie whispered, averting his gaze from Leonardo. It was weird to the Softshell to be talked to in such a way by his own twin, and it only served to add on to the tension. The group waited in silence for what felt like forever, watching with mixed feelings as Theta and Zeta raced into the living room, a tall cat Yokai chasing after them.

"No! Otōsan! Kare wa kisu de watashitachi o korosou to shite iru!" Zeta cried playfully, squealing as he was picked up and kissed on the cheek. "Eww! Uncle Colton! That gross!"

"I care not! You are now in my possession! Prepare to be eaten!" Colton replied, snuggling Zeta close. Behind the two, Michelangelo and Donatello walked into the living room, their fond smiles fading at the sight of their younger selves. "My love...?"

"Take the babies to the cradle room." Michelangelo instructed, waiting for Colton to do so. When the Yokai was gone, Michelangelo turned his attention to Raphael.

"Draxum sent them." Was all that Raphael could give. Michelangelo sighed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot rapidly before shaking his head.

"Alright, fine. Come with us." Michelangelo instructed. The younger turtles obeyed, saying nothing, even as they entered Donnie's pimped up lab. An expressionless look was on Michelangelo's face as he worked with a few buttons and switches, grumbling to himself before a large blue light appeared in the middle of the lab. "Here. You can go home now."

"Wow. That was incredibly-"

 _"MICHELANGELO! GET DOWN HERE!"_ A loud cackle followed the order, one that was familiar and chilling to the bone. However, while it was familiar, there seemed to be an... artificial aspect to it. There was a robotic echo behind the sound, and it was accompanied by the sound of whipping.

"DID YOU TRULY BELIEVE I WOULD LET YOU LIVE?! LET YOU PROCREATE WHILE I WASTED AWAY?!" The voice sounded furious, it sounded betrayed, it sounded... _sad_. "You will now see what it's like to be left in pieces! But in your case, _there will be no one to put you back together!"_

Michelangelo hissed, disappearing in a second and leaping down to the first floor. The sound of a struggle rang throughout the lair, and the younger turtles were torn between staying and helping, or leaving and saving themselves.

And then they heard it.

_"DADDY! I SCARED!"_

_"PAPI! HELP!"_

"Aw, look at them! They look just like their father!"

"Put them down, you _bastard!"_ Leonardo cried. "Take me, but leave them alone!"

"Hmm, a tempting offer. But I don't think I will! In fact, I think it would be better if I just..."

_**SNAP!** _

_**SNAP!** _

Time then seemed to pause for hours, but everyone present knew it was only seconds before Leonardo roared, and Leo could already imagine the fear and fury on the adult's face. A collective shout came from the adults, followed by more snapping. More pain. More loss.

 _More **death**_.

"Leo! We have to go!" The Slider was barely able to register the command, feeling nothing as he was picked up and carried through the portal. As soon as the all of the brothers entered the portal, it disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence. When they were spit out of the other side of the portal, the boys huddled together, wailing and pulling as close as possible, as if they were afraid that one of them didn't make it.

"He killed them. He killed them. He _killed them_." Mikey repeated, burying his face in his hands. Leo did the same, trying his best to rid his memory of the sounds and sights he and his brothers had just been subjected to.

"It's okay. _We're_ here, and that's all that matters." Raph whispered, though he knew it wasn't true. Donnie merely sat and watched from his place in the huddle. He watched as his little brothers broke down, as his older brother tried his best to calm them down, and as a dark figure walked up to them.

"So," Draxum began, a wicked smile on his face, "did you learn anything?"

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Chichioya: Father
> 
> Naze kare wa son'nani haipāna nodesu ka?: Why is he so hyper?
> 
> ¿Donde esta papa?: Where is father?
> 
> ¡Él no está aquí ahora!: He is not here right now!
> 
> ¡Tío, hay personas extrañas en las alcantarillas!: Uncle! There are strange people in the sewers!
> 
> Tia April! ¿Quiénes son estas personas contigo?: Aunt April! Who are these people with you?
> 
> Son tu padre y tus tíos, pero más jóvenes.: They are your father and uncles, but younger.
> 
> ¿Papi solía ser joven?: Father used to be young?
> 
> ven a mi.: come to me.
> 
> Yo solía ser.: I used to be.
> 
> No hueles muy diferente.: You do not smell very different.
> 
> Otōsan! Kare wa kisu de watashitachi o korosou to shite iru!: Father! He is going to kill us with a kiss!


End file.
